 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||
News from Rose Community Foundation
April 14, 2008
News Media Contact: Phil Nash 303.398.7444
Jewish Donors Pledge $36 Million in Bequests
Denver, CO - Over the past two years, 27 metro-area Jewish organizations have secured an estimated $36 million in pledged bequests from 433 donors through a campaign supported by Rose Community Foundation. The initiative, Live On: Build Your Jewish Legacy, was designed to help the participating organizations build permanent endowments through bequests and estate gifts. Participating organizations included schools, synagogues and nonprofit organizations addressing a broad spectrum of community needs.
The Foundation supported the 27 institutions in encouraging their current donors to leave the organizations a charitable bequest in their wills or to include them in their estate plans. Live On included support, training, outreach and educational components aimed at helping the staff and volunteers of participating organizations to continue this work on their own.
“Historically, our Jewish community has been very generous with charitable donations on an annual basis,” says Sheila Bugdanowitz, president and CEO of Rose Community Foundation. “The Live On initiative encouraged donors to consider support for their favorite organizations beyond their lifetimes as a way to ensure the future of Denver/Boulder’s Jewish schools, synagogues and organizations.”
Live On held a celebration commemorating the success of the 27 organizations’ efforts on April 14, just before Passover. “This holiday is a time to remember and celebrate the past, but also to consider the future,” says Bugdanowitz. “It is a time for families to pass along traditions to children, including the Jewish ethic of making the world a better place for the next generation.”
Rose Community Foundation invested approximately $820,000 in the Live On campaign for challenge grants, technical assistance, staff time and marketing support. “Looking purely at return on investment, Live On has been a spectacular success,” says Bugdanowitz. “Even more gratifying is to see the generous response of our community.”
The organizations, schools and synagogues involved with Live On are:
Allied Jewish Apartments
American Jewish Committee, Colorado Chapter
Anti-Defamation League, Mountain States Region
Beth Jacob High School of Denver
B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, Rocky Mountain Region
B’nai Havurah (CJRF)
Boulder Jewish Day School
Center for Judaic Studies, University of Denver
Colorado Agency for Jewish Education (CAJE)
Congregation Beth Evergreen
Congregation Beth Shalom
Congregation Emanuel
Congregation Hebrew Educational Alliance
Congregation Nevei Kodesh
Congregation Rodef Shalom
Denver Academy of Torah
Denver Community Kollel
Herzl/RMHA at the Denver Campus
Hillel of Colorado
Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East, University of Denver
Jewish Community Foundation
Jewish Family Service of Colorado
National Council of Jewish Women, Colorado Section
Robert E. Loup Jewish Community Center
Stepping Stones…to a Jewish Me
Temple Sinai
Yeshiva Toras Chaim
Rose Community Foundation supports efforts to improve the quality of life throughout the Greater Denver community through its endowed grantmaking programs, and by advising and assisting donors who wish to make thoughtful charitable investments to better the community. The Foundation has granted more than $132 million since it was founded in 1995. For more information, visit rcfdenver.org.